The Poetry Friday Roundup is HERE!

I’ve moved the picnic table into the shade of the weeping birch in the back yard of my childhood home, and the Poetry Sisters are arriving with yummy offerings for today’s pot luck. 

Nope. While I DID grow up on the arid high plains of eastern Colorado, that’s WAY too dry. Let’s try again.

Right tree, wrong size of lawn. Maybe the third time will be the charm?

Close enough! Let’s get this party started!

Tricia arrives carefully balancing the dish her mom made and took to church every week for years.

Liz is bringing a family recipe as well – her grandmother’s strawberry rhubarb kuchen.

Sara, bless her, is providing the salty goodness that will balance the sweets – a lowly but always welcome bag of chips.

Tanita‘s offering is a little bit wobbly — Ms. Sandy McMahon’s red jello salad.

Laura sent some flowers for the table. She won’t be joining us with a poem this week.

More than any other season, Summer, to me, is a taste: fat green grapes at swim meets, nectarine juice running down my chin, warm cherry tomatoes straight off the vine, fresh garden green beans cooked with a ham hock and potatoes, sliced garden cucumbers tossed in vinegar and sugar, butterscotch dip cones from DQ…but what I finally chose for my poem was Three Bean Salad.*

I’m going to do the roundup “old-school” this week. Leave your link and a brief description of your post in the comments and I’ll add your links to today’s potluck.

MAIN DISHES
Susan is in with a link to Eve L. Ewing’s poem “I saw Emmett Till this week at the grocery store” at Chicken Spaghetti.

Robyn, at Life on the Deckle Edge, is sharing a couple of new Americana bookmarks and Whitman’s classic, “I Hear America Singing.

Tabatha has an original poem today at The Opposite of Indifference.

Tracey interviews Jone about TILT! at Tangles and Tails.

Molly, at Nix the Comfort Zone, has joined the Pádraig Pantoum crew with one so delicious you’ll want to read and reread it!

SIDES
This week Jama is sharing Kim Dower’s poem “How to Shop for a Poet” with thoughts about her “ideal” poet at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.

Cathy is bringing a whole carousel of offerings to the picnic at Cathy Stenquist!

Amy, at The Poem Farm, brings us this delicious side dish all the way from Utah!

Carol has left The Apples in My Orchard and is also dialing in from Utah with gorgeous photos and haikus.

Let’s serve Margaret’s Pádraig Pantoum alongside a serving of funeral potatoes from Tricia’s poem (see above.) Margaret’s pantoum is at Reflections on the Teche.

DESSERTS
Let’s put some candles on the birthday cake for Michelle at More Art 4 All! Today is her birthday and she’s written a Golden Shovel in celebration.

Jone’s sharing “her” fourth grader (in the class where she was subbing) sweet “I Am” poems at Jone Rush MacCulloch.

Carol offers up a plate of springtime thoughts, peonies before and after the rain, through nature photography, digital art, and a Golden Hinge poem at Beyond LiteracyLink.

Irene treats us to the sweetness of letter writing and snail mail at Live Your Poem. (After lunch, let’s all sit down and write a few notes!)

DRINKS
Quench your thirst for all things birds with Jan at Bookseedstudio!

Over at Reverie, Patricia is reviewing Mary Oliver/Melissa Sweet’s GOLDFINCHES, a book to sip and savor!

AFTER LUNCH ENTERTAINMENT
Jane, at Rain City Librarian, wrote about…a sea slug! A ridiculously adorable, itty bitty little sea slug that looks like a cartoon character.

Linda wrote a Pádraig Ó Tuama-ish pantoum this week. Find her on Substack at Another Word Edgewise.

Alan shares the simple, yet beguiling ‘Stornello’ -a traditonal Italian tercet – at Poetry Pizzazz.

Rose is celebrating an almost-milestone anniversary and offering a bit of entertainment with words and music at Imagine the Possibilities.

Every good picnic has at least one dog, sniffing under the table for dropped goodies. Denise, at Dare to Care, brings us and entire pack of Good Dogs in the form of études (a form to play with while our lunch settles).

Mona has a project for us after lunch is finished — let’s all go forth and put up poetry boxes! She has the details and a concrete poem at Mona Voelkel.

Here’s another after-lunch project — let’s all make poetry zines with Jill Dailey!

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

The call for roundup hosts for July – December 2026 can be found here.

All images in today’s post are via Unsplash, with the exception of the jello salad, which is Creative Commons via Flickr.

*recipe can be found in the comments

39 thoughts on “The Poetry Friday Roundup is HERE!”

  1. Mom’s 3 Bean Salad

    1 can green beans, drained
    1 can wax beans, drained
    1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
    1 green pepper, chopped
    1/2 onion, chopped
    whole small jar chopped pimentos
    3 lg. stalks celery, chopped

    Mix gently together. Make dressing:

    1/2 c vinegar
    1/3 c salad oil
    1/2 tsp pepper
    1/2 tsp salt
    1/2 cup sugar
    1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
    1/2 tsp garlic salt
    1/2 tsp celery seed

    Mix and pour over vegetables. Mix gently. Cover and refrigerate for 12-48 hours.

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    3. Sweet and spicy, indeed! I love any thing with crunch. Your poem evokes this dish so well. (Do you have the OG “big yellow bowl”?)

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      1. I do not have the OG set of rainbow Pyrex bowls, but when the mixing bowls I bought at some fancy kitchen store started to crack and lose their glaze, I hit the thrift stores until I found a complete set. Mom is now with me in everything I mix!

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      2. Awesome! I also took a set of those colorful bowls from my MIL’s kitchen after she and my FIL had passed away. They are innately comforting.

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  5. Yes to the crunch and heat of summer! My husband loooooooves Three Bean Salad. We make it, buy it pre-made, eat it until I’m tired of it…which is well into September. ha! Thanks for hosting the round up this week. I have a pantoum in response to Padriag O’Tauama’s Sunday newsletter.
    https://open.substack.com/pub/mitchellhubeimom/p/its-pantoum-time?r=1pzjjl&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

    I look forward to enjoying a little bit of all the picnic goodies!

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  6. My kind of roundup — a poetry potluck!! I haven’t had Three Bean Salad in awhile so will have to make your recipe. Hooray! Your poem has put me in a happy summery mood. 🙂

    This week I’m sharing Kim Dower’s poem “How to Shop for a Poet” with thoughts about my “ideal” poet.

    https://jamarattigan.com/2026/05/29/talking-shop/

    Thanks for hosting this week (my link goes live at 6 a.m. Friday)!

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  9. Yum, what a delicious post for all our senses! Lovely summery poem and I’ll take the line “summer tastes like a childhood,” as a side order please. Great pics too, and such a majestic looking church, thanks for hosting Mary Lee!

    I’m piggy-backing onto the Poetry Sister’s prompt with a kind-of Birthday golden shovel poem taken from some lines of Linda Pastan’s poem COUNTING BACKWARDS:
    https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/2026/05/28/poetry-friday-pot-luck-prompt/

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  10. Mary Lee, 3-beans in a salad are valid – but spot on about the freshness of summer veggies. I LOVE all your images here & your evoking of the Poetry Sisters. Fingers crossed this meet-up isn’t a fantasy, but how you’ve evoked the fun & frolic of an outdoors made from scratch by those you love feast, in this inventive imaginative post. Appreciations for hosting so creatively & for posting a whole half year calendar for us to fill of lucious Poetry Friday’s ahead. I will go grab a Fri.

    I’m in with my BIRDS that you know from a few days back, but I’ve added the allure of #PF pals traveling to Ireland for Castle Creativity [ in groovy links.] Who is going to go?

    https://bookseedstudio.wordpress.com

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  11. Thank you for hosting Mary Lee, and for the recipe! I have my grandmother’s 3-bean salad recipe somewhere here. This made me miss her so. Definitely going to make it. As your poem shows, summer is all those yummy salads that feel like home to us. This theme is perfect, as I am offering up asparagus, cotton candy and mango tango this week as my Crayola Color inspirations 🙂 Hope you have a great picnic!

    https://www.cathystenquist.com/post/a-carousel-of-flavors

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  13. Poetry and food, what a perfect combo, Mary Lee. Summer food delights mean your feasting table is laden with nourishing options. I do have a life long love of rhubarb. My dad grew it in commercial quantities and it featured regularly in various dessert offerings across my formative years. Thanks for hosting, Mary Lee. Bon appetit!

    This week, I bring the ‘Stornello’ -a traditonal Italian tercet. Simple, yet beguiling.

    https://alanjwrightpoetrypizzazz.blogspot.com/2026/05/stornello-poem-alan-j-wright.html

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  14. DELICIOUS post, Mary Lee – that three-bean salad is a staple, isn’t it? Also, I haven’t thought about or tasted those “butterscotch dip cones from DQ” in a zillion years; thanks for the sweet memory! And thanks so much for the yummy Roundup.

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  15. Mary Lee, thank you for hosting a delightful summer picnic with a variety of delicious treats. The idea of summertime being a taste is a new take on summer loving. Your poem shares the delight of summer tastes and memories of childhood.

    I offer springtime thoughts, peonies before and after the rain, through nature photography, digital art, and a Golden Hinge poem with the title: Spring’s Gifts: Rain, Garden Flowers, and Nature’s Beauty https://tinyurl.com/2836p2hm.

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  16. Mary Lee, what a delicious, salty-sweet post! I recognize that big, yellow bowl of three-bean salad. We never added peppers or celery, but I think they would give it a nice crunch! Thank you for sharing your recipe.

    This week, I was fortunate to have a conversation with Jone Rush MacCulloch about her new book, Tilt!

    https://traceykj.com/joomla/index.php/tilt

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  18. Leave it to you to host such a delicious potluck. True to Mary Lee form. Thank you for this poem and recipe. The repeating line list is such a delicious match for the topic. I am slowwwwwwly working my way through a pile of family baking recipes. Things I have never eaten but that my ancestors did eat. Last one was Great Grandmother Marie’s Icebox Cookies. Your roundup, and this baking experience, helps me feel closer to the past.

    Today at The Poem Farm, I suggest writing about a place…after visiting a very surprising place this week in Utah. https://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/2026/05/describe-place.html

    Thank you for hosting! xo, a.

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  24. I love your “Summer is” poem and I love Three Bean Salad! It’s a delicious memory from my childhood, when my grandmother made it each summer. I can’t begin to figure out how long it’s been since I have eaten any, so I’m so glad you shared your recipe! Somehow I’ve never made it before. Also, your poem is a super mentor poem for kids!

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  25. I haven’t had three bean salad in ages, but now I’m going to make. It was something my mother loved to make, but I didn’t really appreciate beans when I was a child. I love the repetition of “Summer is” and all the lovely images. Time for me to get out my own big yellow bowl.

    Thank you for hosting us!

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  27. Mary Lee, your poem made me hungry for summer and three-bean salad. Perfect evocation of both! 😀

    Thanks for hosting. I didn’t get a poem in this week, but I’m looking forward to making the rounds to see what everyone else is up to.

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    1. Thanks for making the rounds! Audience is part of the writing process!

      And if you want to host a roundup, be sure you visit the post previous to this one (linked at the end of my post) to nab a spot!

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  28. Mary Lee, it’s been a couple of busy weeks for me–lost my purse for a week (fortunately, returned from the airlines, in tact), a trip to Seattle, a trip to the Arizona border to pick up Rocio, our friend who has been in an unlawful and prolonged detention for eleven months. (I’m so thankful for federal District judges who are still upholding the fifth amendment for our asylum-seeking friends.) Anyway, in the midst of all this, I had it on my calendar to come to the picnic, but then I forgot to post it. Thank you for rounding it up for me, for hosting today, for your sweet summery picnic poem, and for sharing the recipe for bean salad. (I used to hate it when I was a kid, but now it sounds so good, and I’m thinking I’ll be making some this summer.)

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    1. Yikes! I’m sorry about your purse, but thankful that it was returned. I’m sorry about your friend’s detention, but SO thankful that the situation is resolved. What a roller coaster!

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